Loving February

February is generally one of the coldest months of the year, but due to an abnormally warm winter, it's been our hottest month since moving to Jupiter.  We've been avoiding excursions during the heat of the day, and I've been trying to take Isaac for stroller walks before 10:00am, but we were blessed with a cold front early in the month, with temperatures down in the 60s, which was perfect for long sleeves and a beach stroll.  Isaac loved visiting Carlin Park, riding on Daddy's shoulders, watching the waves, and walking in the sand.

 Keep up Daddy; I'm a baby on the go!

 Is this how you shake out the sand?

On the fourth, we celebrated eleven months, and took Isaac's final monthly photo before his first birthday.

 Eleven Months (7 months adjusted)

Although he has no teeth yet, Isaac is showing stronger signs of teething, chewing on everything from toys to his socks, and Mommy's hair to Daddy's hands.  We think his favorite color is purple, because his purple linking rings seem to be his favorite, as well as his purple stacking cup and the purple button on one of his leap frog toys.  He's learning to hit buttons, twist knobs, pull levers and shake a rattle like a champ.

 Isaac loves the letter Q

It's easy to hold, and fun to chew!

He's also getting closer to sleeping through the night.  Most nights, he'll sleep 5-6 hours straight, wake for a snack, and then fall back asleep.  He's a very happy baby in the morning, greeting us with smiles and squeals, ready to play and greet the day.  Play time is developing new skills; he can now push up, pivot, and then roll to any destination he chooses, and is learning to get into things that he never could before.  One of his favorite new mischiefs is rolling to the curtains in our family room, pulling them over his head, and laughing when we pull them back, like it's the best game of peek-a-boo ever.

Isaac has almost outgrown his baby bath tub, now throwing his legs out, propping his feet up, or jumping, splashing, and twisting until he almost leaps out.  He thoroughly enjoys his baths, but is definitely working his way toward toddlerhood and giving his parents a few grey hairs.

We celebrated Isaac's first birthday with the Engi family on Sunday, February 24th at Carlin Park.  Isaac tried out his new walker while Aaron grilled brats and burgers, then we all walked the beach and splashed in the water a bit.  After our stroll back to the pavilion, we sat in the shade and enjoyed some birthday cupcakes.  Isaac tasted frosting for the first time, first a little bit, then a little more, then suddenly grabbed the cupcake in both hands and managed to shove a handful in his face.  He quickly learned that he likes frosting, but not cake, and let out a mighty wail, then decided to wipe the excess from his hands onto Mommy's arm.  Daddy helped to clean up his mouth, and he gratefully drank some water from a straw, washing down the crumbs that were stuck to his tongue.  

 Check out my wheels!

 Snuggles with Poppa

Soon, his energy was fading and the heat was rising, so we gave a round of hugs and headed home.  Isaac was fast asleep long before we completed the fifteen minute drive back, tuckered out from fun in the sun with family.  However, upon arriving home, Isaac popped awake, gaining a second wind from his sugar buzz, and after several failed attempts of getting him to nap, we settled for a bath, some play time, and some extra snuggles before our exhausted baby fell asleep at 6:30pm.

 First Cupcake

 

Sleepy Boy

The month ended with a morning trip to West Palm Beach for Isaac's Early Steps evaluation. He scored extremely high marks on socialization (no shock there) and is progressing nicely in motor skills and baby babble speech. We'll be starting some OT in a week or two to work toward sitting up and crawling, but all in all, the feedback was even better than we had hoped. These parents are very proud of their little Doozer!